My first run in Japan came after a night of Christmas karaoke with the family we were visiting. My expert runner friend recommended his standard Tokyo run…leave the house, run up Roppongi street and around the Imperial Palace grounds. A couple of days before, we had walked through the East Gardens and seen the runners. Very orderly and all running counter-clockwise around the palace.
I had planned to do an Orangetheory Fitness workout at the Tokyo gym later in the morning, but my jet-lagged induced internal alarm clock spurred me to put on my running shoes and head out right before sunrise. As much as I enjoy OTF, I’m glad I experienced this run instead.
The weather was pleasantly cool as I headed northeast up Roppongi Dori (street). Early morning Tokyo is not the same as workday Tokyo which can be bustling and frenetic. And urban environments aren’t usually the most scenic places to run, but I enjoyed the varied architecture and signage as well as running under the elevated highway on the way to the park.
As I approached the park, I was unsure if runners were allowed inside the first gate that I came upon…so I followed the handful of local runners I saw.
The southeast side of the grounds is a large open public park, the Imperial Palace Outer Gardens. Wide pathways, interesting trees and a view of downtown Tokyo gleaming as the sun rises. Once you enter the complex, the route is simple…just keep the moat on your left as your circle the compound.
As I ran the perimeter of the grounds and was warmed by the rising sun and the increasing elevation, I also noticed that the path was marked with tiles describing the flowers of Japan…and I collected a few snaps along the way. I think they reflect the trees/plants/flowers of each prefecture in Japan, but that’s just a guess.
On the western side of the grounds, I encountered some modern sculpture in Chidorigafuchi Park. Apparently the cherry blossoms are quite spectacular in this area, but, alas, I did this run in late December…months too early to witness the beauty. On this side of the grounds I also encountered the National Theater building, another example of Tokyo and Japan’s impressive architecture.
On the southwest side, I ran into the North Gardens on the front side of the National Diet, the home of Japan’s legislative branch. A informative brochure on the National Diet with info on the building, the government and history, and views of the interior here.
There’s a clock tower and reflecting pool in the gardens, supposedly representing the Separation of Powers, but I couldn’t find much online describing its provenance. As I also discovered in Kyoto, the history of everything in Japan is not yet fully documented in English on Google.
Here’s the map of my NP2R Tokyo: